Preferences for TV Content Genre: What Sydney Viewers Want. Geoffrey Lee, University of Western Sydney

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1 Page 1 of 8 ANZMAC 2009 Preferences for TV Content Genre: What Sydney Viewers Want Geoffrey Lee, University of Western Sydney g.lee@uws.edu.au Robyn McGuiggan, University of Western Sydney r.mcguiggan@uws.edu.au Abstract The proliferation of television channels and alternative entertainment sources make establishing, maintaining and expanding television viewer market share increasingly difficult. Based upon models of choice, this exploratory study seeks to identify a relationship between Australian viewer preferences for content genre and viewer demographics. A survey of 427 Sydney adults explored preferred content genre and satisfaction levels to identify unmet needs by market segment. Simple discriminant analysis and explorative factor analysis identified seven dimensions of preferred genre. ANOVA testing of preferred genre and respondent characteristics identified age and education as statistically significant. Keywords: community television, content, programming, characteristics 1

2 ANZMAC 2009 Page 2 of 8 Preferences for TV Content Genre: What Sydney Viewers Want Introduction Television audiences have been studied at a micro-level (individuals as the units of analysis to understand what channels or repertoires they watch) or macro-level (aggregated demand by audiences) (Webster and Phalen, 1997; Yuan, 2009). In markets with few dominant channels, audience concentration follows the long-tail phenomenon (Anderson, 2006), where a small amount of content accounts for a disproportionately large share of the audience (Yuan, 2009). With the introduction of greater channel choice, audience fragmentation occurs (Webster, 2005), as the total viewing audience is spread among more channels (Yuan, 2009). When viewers can choose from many channels, most viewers are not aware of all the options available to them and tend to select brand names as an aid to simplify their choice (Cooper, 1996). Correspondingly, an abundance of channel choice and alternatives such as the internet can lead to viewers tending to have a limited and relatively small repertoire of preferred channels and programs that they frequently and heavily use (Yuan, 2009). For example, the introduction of cable television in the US has facilitated selectivity due to greater channel options (Jeffres, 1978). In Australia, competition for establishing, maintaining and expanding television viewer market share is increasingly difficult because of the number of new television channels (such as Pay TV, SBS2 and ABC2) and the proliferation of alternative entertainment sources (such as the internet, video rentals and digital radio). A greater number of channels fragment the traditional television viewer markets (Webster, 1985) and have resulted in increased competition for advertiser revenue, as evidenced by a predicted lag in growth of spending on free-to-air TV compared with radio, Pay TV and the internet over the next five years (BRW, 2009). Research Problem This research will identify the preferred content genre by demographic segment of the adult Sydney viewer market, and current levels of satisfaction with television. Specifically, the research will: assess viewers preferences for category genre; identify viewers preference for geographical focus; assess viewers satisfaction with existing programming; and identify segments within the Sydney market for category genre, geographic focus and satisfaction levels. Literature Review Marketing theory suggests that understanding consumer behaviour is the first step in identifying those stimuli that affect the decision-making process. Consumer behaviour provides a conceptual framework for carrying out consumer segmentation (Demirdjian and Senguder, 2004; Schiffman and Kanuk, 2000). By analysing consumers characteristics and decision processes, marketers develop strategies to influence the choices consumers make. Kotler et al. (2004) note that consumers are influenced by psychological characteristics, 1

3 Page 3 of 8 ANZMAC 2009 personal situation, social forces, environmental influences and marketing programs. This analysis of consumer behaviour is an adaptation of Allport s (1954) socio-psychoanalytical model. It is used as a logical framework for understanding the consumer decision-making process, with the major influential stimuli on the consumer seen as a combination of endogenous (such as psychological or personal characteristics) and exogenous (cultural or social forces) variables (Walters, 1978). These influences are diverse and multifaceted, and interact to varying degrees on the decision that each individual eventually makes. The response to such stimuli can be measured by viewers choice of channels, programs, number of repeat visits or the level of awareness. Consumer choice of television channels and programs has been of interest for decades. Television consumption is regarded as a free-good (costs for Pay TV costs have already been incurred) with few switching barriers, and is a low-involvement decision (Cooper, 1996). In an environment of increasing consumer choice of channels and program genre, marketers are concerned with attracting audiences to drive advertising revenue. As with other goods, segmentation of the mass market offers efficiencies in targeted marketing, and thus segmentation by demographic, behavioural and psychological variables is warranted (Domzal and Kernan, 1983). Despite demographic characteristics being useful for segmentation of audiences (Hara, Tomomune and Shigemori, 2004), combining psychographic segmentation variables such as satisfaction and personal interests can identify meaningful sub-markets (Domzal and Kernan, 1983). Research into program choice falls into two schools of thought: program choice is related to content, or program choice is related to program scheduling (Webster and Wakshlag, 1983). Models of choice hold implicit assumption that program choice is a function of individual preferences as TV is a free-good and is an active decision by viewers. Literature supporting the notion that program choice is related to content identifies preferences by demographic market segment in the US (Atkin, Neuendorf, Jeffres and Skalski, 2003; Dupagne, 1999) and Israel (Cohen, 2002). Using principle component analysis, Cohen (2002) identifies groups of shows often watched by the same viewers. These groups form production genres that television industry regard as important in viewing choices. In contrast, other market researchers (Webster and Wakshlag, 1983) suggest program choice is a function of other interacting factors such as channel loyalty (Bruno, 1973), program type preference (Ehrenberg, 1968), viewer availability (Blumler, 1979), viewer needs (Elliot, 1974), influence of viewer group (Bower, 1973) and viewer awareness (McGuire, 1974). Cooper (1996) concurs by suggesting choice is largely passive, with structural factors being significant predictors of channel choice. Channel choice is influenced by audience duplication: if two programs are of the same general type, people who like to watch a program genre are likely to watch both programs. Audience duplication is the theory that people who watch Program A will watch Program B regardless of channel or time (Webster, 1985). Cooper (1996) suggests 80 90% of patterns in viewing can be attributed to audience duplication, which consists of the components of inheritance effects (Webster, 1985), channel loyalty (Cooper, 1993), repeat viewing (Webster and Wang, 1992) and repeated exposure (Tannenbaum, 1985). Thus programming and scheduling are important variables for predicting choice and behaviour. Based upon the literature, the following hypothesis is posited. H1: Viewer preference for content genre is related to viewer demographics. 2

4 ANZMAC 2009 Page 4 of 8 This paper contends that content genre and user satisfaction levels are two significant variables associated with viewer preferences. In turn, viewer preferences aggregate to form an audience that can be defined by segmentation variables. Broadcasters are concerned with meeting the needs of segment to build market share to drive advertising revenue, which, in turn, provides broadcasters with the ability to buy or develop content. Methodology An explorative study of general television viewers was considered pragmatic and appropriate to address the research questions. The survey instrument examined respondent characteristics, preferences for content genre (lifestyle, entertainment, news and documentaries, creative arts and sports, geographic focus local, Sydney, Australian and international) and satisfaction in the performance of television channels (quality, focus and creativity). Assessment of the preferences for content genre was considered appropriate as it informs on aggregated preferences which are largely independent of the popularity of individual TV shows and indicated by data from commercial ratings agencies. Respondents selected by convenience sampling based on Gen X, Gen Y and Baby Boomer categories live in Sydney metropolitan area and are over the age of 18 years. The preferences and satisfaction levels were assessed using a 5-point Likert scales (1= strongly disagree; 5= strongly agree). Non-probability convenience sampling is frequently used (~15%) in research published in high-ranking business journals (Yang, Wang and Su, 2006). The statistical techniques used in data analysis were exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to gauge validity of constructs, descriptive analysis of respondents demographic profiles, a one sample discriminant analysis to identify preferences for content genre, geographic focus and satisfaction with television, and ANOVA correlation test. The discriminant analysis was based upon the mean scores of responses to an item on a 1 5 Likert scale where scores of 3.00 ( agree or strongly agree ) or above are regarded as important to respondents (Lee and McGuiggan, 2008). EFA identified dimensions within content genre items regarded as important by respondents. The ANOVA tested for correlation between respondents demographic profile and preference for content genre. Findings The gender balance of the 427 participants was 50% female and 47% male. The largest group (40%) were Baby Boomers, born before 1964; 33% were Generation Y, born between 1981 and 1994; and 27% were Generation X, born between 1965 and Educational qualifications were divided among high school (34%), bachelor s degree (28%), certificate/diploma (24%) or postgraduate qualification (8%). Most respondents watched TV less than three hours per day on both weekends (47%) and weekdays (41%). Close to 50% of the respondents subscribed to pay TV, which is higher than the national average of 28% in 2008 (BuddeComm, 2009). Discriminant analysis of content genre identified the following items as important to respondents. Four out of nine lifestyle type items: talk shows (M=3.22, SD =1.3), tourism (M=3.15, SD=1.19), home improvement (M=3.11, SD=1.22) and cooking (M=3.02, SD=1.31). Eight out 11 entertainment type items: sitcoms (M=3.62, SD=1.13), box-office 3

5 Page 5 of 8 ANZMAC 2009 movies (M=3.59, SD=1.22), family drama (M=3.49, SD=1.16), police stories (M=3.40, SD=1.2), reality shows (M=3.15, SD=1.32), hospital dramas (M=3.07, SD=1.29), movie reviews (M=3.01, s=1.19) and courtroom drama (M=3.07, SD=1.29). All nine news and documentary type items: local news (M=4.14, SD=0.89), world news (M=3.92, SD=1.1), crime and investigation (M=3.5, SD=1.16), historical places and events (M=3.43, SD=1.23), health (M=3.41, SD=1.13), weather (M=3.26, SD=1.19), business (M=3.14, SD=1.31), biographies (M=3.13, SD=1.25) and science (M=3.05, SD=1.24). One out six creative arts type items: performance (M=3.02, SD=1.34). Five out of 13 sports type items: tennis (M=3.61, SD=1.25), soccer (M=3.48, SD=1.37), rugby (M=3.29, SD=1.43), swimming (M=3.27, SD=1.3) and athletics (M=3.0, SD=1.3). Discriminant analysis identified all four geographic focus type items tested were important to respondents: Australia (M=4.04, SD=0.79), international (M=4.01, SD=0.91), Sydney (m=3.92, SD=0.85) and local community (M=3.29, SD=1.15). Similarly, three out of four satisfaction levels were important to respondents: quality (M=3.42, SD=0.9), focus of TV stations (M=3.26, SD=0.92) and creativity (M=3.25, SD=0.96). A preference for watching community TV stations was not seen as important (M=2.52, SD=1.05). EFA was conducted to establish and validate constructs within the content genre. EFA converged the question into seven dimensions. Dimension 1, Documentaries, consisted of four items (science, history, biographies and health). Factor loadings for all four items were above the 0.5 threshold value and explained about 13% if the variance. The reliability test for this dimension indicates stable reliability (Cronbach alpha = 0.97). Dimension 2, News, consisted of three items (world news, business news and local news). This dimension explained 9% of the variance (Cronbach alpha = 0.95). Dimension 3, Sports, consisted of four items (swimming, tennis, rugby and soccer), with a variance of 8.8%. Dimension 4, DIY (home improvement and gardening), and Dimension 5, Drama and Reality (family, talk and reality), explained 8.6% and 8.5% of the factor rotation variations, respectively. Dimension 6, Crime and Investigation (police and crime), and Dimension 7, Entertainment (box office movies and sitcoms), explained 7.2% and 6.8% of the variations, respectively. ANOVA test of the correlations between the seven dimensions identified in the EFA and the respondents characteristics revealed statistically significant associations for age and education characteristics. TV watching preferences for viewers in the Baby Boomers category (born before 1964) are statistically different from those for Gen Y viewers (born between 1981 and 1994). Baby Boomers are more inclined to watch health (M = 3.60, SD = 1.12), historical (M = 3.58, SD = 1.23) and biographical documentaries (M = 3.30, SD = 1.23) than Generation Y viewers (M = 3.02, SD = 1.17; M = 3.04, SD = 1.30; and M = 2.70, SD = 1.24, respectively). Viewers with an educational qualification at certificate level (M = 3.69, SD = 1.16) have greater preference for watching shows featuring police stories than those with masters degrees (M = 2.78, SD = 1.33). Viewers with masters degrees (M = 4.32, SD = 0.72) are more interested in watching world news than those with high school education (M = 3.70, SD = 1.20). Viewers with PhDs (M = 4.55, SD = 0.52) are more strongly inclined to watch business news than viewers with certificate background (M = 2.93, SD = 1.27). Discussion and Conclusion Respondents were asked four questions to identify preferred content genre by segments of the adult Sydney viewer market and current levels of satisfaction with television. The first 4

6 ANZMAC 2009 Page 6 of 8 question was to assess viewers preferences for category genre through a simple discriminant analysis of 47 items, with 28 being statistically significant. Exploratory factor analysis of these items identified seven dimensions: documentaries, news, sports, DIY, drama and reality, crime and investigation, and entertainment. The second question was to ascertain viewers preference for geographical focus of genre. Simple discriminant analysis identified Australian, international, Sydney and local content as significantly important to respondents. The third question was to assess viewers satisfaction on existing programming. Analysis revealed respondents were satisfied with quality, focus and creativity. The fourth question used ANOVA to identify correlations of genre preferences with respondent characteristics of age, gender, education and time spent watching television. ANOVA testing revealed content genre preferences are related to age and education and thus these findings partly support H1; findings are similar to those of Cohen (2002), who identified groups (defined by demographic characteristics) having preference for specific content genre. Unsurprisingly, the findings do not identify a gap in the market and therefore do not provide clear direction for programming. The research suggests that TV viewers are generally satisfied, which should be expected as free-to-air and Pay TV stations devote considerable resources to market research and are very experienced in identifying and meeting viewer preferences. This paper continues to support the notion that there is a strong relationship between program content and audience preferences (Webster and Wakshlag, 1983). Despite this exploratory research identifying limited viewer segment preferences by genre, the results have established genre dimensions that can be used in future studies. The results affirm the notion that channel and program choice is a complex interaction of exogenous and endogenous variables (Walters 1978); this study was limited to the evaluation of preferred genre and demographic characteristics without the influence of structural conditions (Cooper, 1996). Future studies will require the incorporation of more variables into the model of choice such as structural conditions (Webster, 1985; Webster and Wakshlag, 1983). 5

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